Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz light up the night in The Batman cover shoot portraits

The Bat and the Cat forever

Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz reignite one of comic book history's longest enduring romances on the big screen as Batman and Selina Kyle in The Batman. Directed by Matt Reeves, the moody movie is set during the Dark Knight's second year as a vigilante. Selina hasn't become Catwoman yet, but that doesn't mean she isn't fond of the occasional B&E. Despite their resistance to each other, these two lonely figures form a connection as Batman hunts down a serial killer, the Riddler (Paul Dano). Ahead of The Batman's March 4 debut, EW brought the two stars together for a digital cover shoot and to discuss the new chapter in the Caped Crusader's cinematic history. Check out all of their portraits.

When the Bat met the Cat

For two people who put on masks and prowl at night, Batman and Selina meet in a pretty mundane way in The Batman: at a club, specifically the Penguin's (Colin Farrell) Iceberg Lounge.

"There's a serial killer in Gotham and [Batman] is trying to figure out what's going on," Kravitz tells EW. "He's kind of following the bread crumbs, which eventually leads him to Selina, who works at a club. A friend of mine has gone missing and everything kind of begins to intertwine. I have information he needs. He has information I need. So, we're kind of stuck working together."

She continues: "They have quite a strong connection pretty quickly, and I think they're both trying to ignore that. They're both very surprised by feeling a connection with somebody because that's quite rare for them. It puts both of us out of our comfort zone."

A complicated dynamic

"He kind of struggles with it," says Pattinson about Batman and Selina's dynamic. "Bruce created Batman in this very binary worldview where he [believes] there are bad guys and there are victims. Selina comes along, and he's like, 'Well, you're a thief. You're basically the same as the Penguin,' and yet partially because he needs her to achieve what his aims are, but also there's something in her I recognize; it's going up against his snap judgment."

Instant chemistry

Reeves didn't know Pattinson and Kravitz had been friends for over a decade when he brought them together for a chemistry read in October 2019, so he was surprised by how quickly they clicked.

"There was an immediate rapport between her and Rob," says the director, who is best known for helming Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes. "Everybody could see that there was something really special between them and that there was something really special about her."

Up the ladder to the roof

In keeping with the source material (and as seen in the trailer), Batman and Selina frequently meet on rooftops at magic hour in The Batman. "Those scenes were some of the most important scenes for Batman and Selina as characters," says Kravitz, who credits cinematographer Greig Fraser with making sure they didn't have to depend on their imaginations to picture the sunset because they actually filmed at that time. "Having the actual view of Gotham and that magic hour, the sunset, really transports you and does a lot of the work for you so you're just able to focus on the emotion of the scene and feel the romance, the sadness, and all of it. It really lends itself to performing."

Bat romance

"One of the things about the movie is it ends up being a kind of tortured love story," says Reeves. "[Batman is] drawn into her in a classic noir way."

Pattinson on Kravitz

"She looks like Catwoman," says Pattinson, praising his onscreen partner. "She has that great combination: She's fun but super feisty. She has a lot going on in her mind, and it really shows through her eyes."

Kravitz on Pattinson

"He is a great scene partner," says Kravitz. "He's incredibly present. He always gives the same amount of emotion and energy, whether it's his coverage or your coverage. Not all actors do that."

Becoming Batman

Pattinson mostly avoided blockbusters after the Twilight saga, but he was determined to play Batman once he found out Reeves was attached to the project. "You're always looking for the next challenge," he says. "It's a pretty significant mountain to try and get... When I finally read the script, I [was] like, 'Oh yeah, I totally know how to do this.'"

Embracing the Cat

"I really think that Catwoman would have been the only [superhero character] that I would ever consider, just because I feel really connected to her emotionally and also aesthetically. I think there's an authenticity and an edge to her that I'm drawn to," says Kravitz, who played the winged mutant Angel in X-Men: First Class.

Clandestine meetings

"She doesn't know who he is, but she knows about him just by the way he acts and the way he talks to her," says Reeves. "And she really, in many ways, puts him in his place. And that, of course, is really intoxicating as well, to have somebody who so throws you off balance."

Suiting up

"It was really exciting," says Kravitz, reflecting on the first time she put on Selina's costume. "Selina is not really Catwoman yet... We're meeting her at a really pivotal moment in her life. I think her focus is really on freeing herself from a lot of hurt and a lot of trauma, and a lot of anger."

Match wits with the Riddler

According to Reeves, Dano's Zodiac killer-inspired version of Riddler "is omnipresent, but almost as a ghost" and threatens one of Batman's most important assets.

The other dynamic duo

Jeffrey Wright — who plays Lieutenant Jim Gordon, one of the few people Batman can trust in Gotham City — was really impressed by Reeves' script. "It was a real departure from what we'd seen in the past, but at the same time, it was a throwback to the origins of the comics, which is grounded in mystery and detective work," says the Westworld actor. "There's an awareness of an instability within Gotham that I think is reflective of the times. There's an awareness of certain class tension and pervasive distrust in Gotham. In the way that Matt shaped the Riddler here, it speaks to a kind of present-day virality that we see used for communication of certain ideas and propaganda."

Working with Reeves

"[Reeves] put so much pressure on himself for this, and just the level of concentration that he can put into something, I was just so astounded by his level of effort," says Pattinson of working with the director. "He's very strangely intuitive. He does a lot of takes. So when you first start shooting with him, and once you do a ton of takes, you think, 'Oh, I'm messing everything up,' but he's so gentle about what's actually showing. I was watching playback with him, and I suddenly could see there's minuscule changes in between takes. He's like, 'That's the one,' and I'm like, 'Oh.' All you want out of a director is to know that they're really, really watching. After about three weeks or a month, I really got on the same rhythm as him."